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McCain is so Good on the Republic of Georgia the Left Must Seek to Discredit Him

Apparently, citing objective facts to explain a nation's history has become plagiarism.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 12th, 2008 at 06:10 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Let’s recap this folks, because this is going to become the next “100 Years” meme from the left.

Taegan Goddard, a man of the left, used his platform at CQ to kick it off. The left is accusing McCain of plagiarizing Wikipedia.

Yeah, read that again. They are accusing McCain of plagiarizing Wikipedia.

There is no proof other than some similarities between McCain’s recitation of Georgia’s history and Wikipedia.

Now, here’s the funny thing.

Before I read the alleged excerpts, I gave an overview of Georgian history on the radio this morning. I guess I plagiarized Wikipedia too, though I had not even read the excerpts.

All I knew was what Bill Beutler had written, which did not include the quotes. I figured I better go check out what exactly the allegedly lifted quotes were before I went into the details of this post.

Funny that.

This, by the way, is the key thing. To understand the history of Georgia, you need to point out that Georgia was a province of the Roman Empire, it has a long history of Christianity, with the area becoming Christianized around 330 A.D., and you must explain the sordid history of Georgia’s relationship with the Soviet Union and Russia. History is important to the region.

If a recitation of facts is plagiarism, I guess we all plagiarize. Bill is right about defining plagiarism down. Geez.

Amazing how dismissive the left was when bloggers accused Obama of lifting whole passages from other people’s speeches and yet the left is perfectly willing to accuse John McCain of plagiarism by accurately recounting Georgia’s history.

Here again is the take away point: McCain has gotten so much good press for his statements and speeches on Georgia, clearly contrasting his experience with Barack Obama’s inexperience, the left must discredit McCain. They cannot build up Obama. They must tear down McCain — even if it means they’ll grasp at straws to do it.

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  • Octavian

    At the risk of being kicked off this board, I will admit that I was not particularly enthused about John McCain being the GOP presidential nominee. However, after Vladimir Putin was dumb enough to remind the world in typical clumsy Russian fashion that Russia is an unchecked aggressor with territorial ambitions, and seeing both McCain’s and Barack Hussein Obama’s responses, I am wholeheartedly in support of McCain. Heck, I’m even going to work a McCain phone bank tonight after work.

    I am of the generation that remembers when half the world was under Russian domination. I celebrated when the Iron Curtain fell with a resounding thud and the peoples of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and eventually Ukraine and Georgia cried a joyous shout of freedom from Russian tyranny that still irks Vladimir Putin after 20 years. I WILL BE DAMNED IF I AM GOING TO SILENTLY SIT BY WHILE I WATCH VLADIMIR PUTIN AND RUSSIA THREATEN FREEDOM once again.

    I will also be damned if I am not going to do everything possible to see that McCain is elected instead of Barack Hussein Obama. Obama is clearly unsuited to be President given his reponse to Russia’s aggression. Hell, I even think Hillary Clinton is better suited to be President than Barack Hussein Obama but if the Democrats are dumb enough to nominate the Messiah, then they can lie in that bed of nails for the general election.

  • kyle8

    I will start to actively campaign for Obama if McCain begins to sprout off the kind of bellicose warmongering stupidity you have been shouting here. And if he does advocate what you advocate, he will lose in a landslide.

    Why is it we have heard little from you until this crisis began?
    Are you from Georgia? Are you being paid by them? Or are you just a bloodthirsty dolt?

    The only thing more stupid than the USA being involved in a shooting war in Eastern Europe would be to invade China. And then it would be a close second.

  • Moe_Lane

    The best part will be that look that they’ll give people when it turns out that this doesn’t get any traction. Equal parts frustration, confusion, and baffled contempt.

  • JKH1232

    That 1) Plagarism is carefully defined, and excludes “Common Knowledge”, which is basically anything you can find in an encyclopedia, and 2) It’s a academic, not political crime.

    I mean, he does know Obama rips off his advisor’s ideas all the time, right?

  • Rod_Patrick

    What are BO’s possible choices?

    • Just make rhetoric? Everyone does that.

    • *Dialogue? *He will sound so unoriginal because the French President Zarkosy was first to mention the idea.

    • *BO to personally visit Russia and convince Putin and his minime to stop the aggression and leave Georgia? * Zarkosy was also first on this option.

    • *Provide non-military relief to the Georgian government and people? * It was an RS blogger who was first to offer the idea, not the Democrats. And besides, the RS guy offered the idea to Bush and McCain and not to BO.

    • *Go to war against Russia? * It’s totally not an option for BO. Because his only rational role in US Politics is to be “correct at the beginning” of opposing any unjust war (i.e., war led by the GOP leaders).

    In the end, McCain was first to answer the 3 am call with the right resume and principled statements.

  • Mord

    They are great, it’s almost like reading a parody. For example :

    It doesn’t surprise me at all. This man doesn’t have orginal thought in his little brain. My God what are we going to do if this unlearned man becomes the President of the USA. America will continue to be the joke of other nations as we go down further and further. To allow racism to be the determining factor as we elect a president is pretty sad, and we can only blame the racists of America that voted based on race to thank them(both rich and poor)for the continued mess and shame that is on our country today. This is really a joke to the republicans, for they are certain that the racists “Will Prevail” and they will elect another idiot to represent us to the world! What a shame! Obama 08!

    What a pointed political analysis! Here is another gem from further down:

    Considering that this guy has never used the Internet and is sooo out of touch with the American way of life, do you really want to elect him? Seriously, it’s like bringing back old Abe who was actually for slavery. Don’t be stupid. Barack is your only vote unless you want to see more dead Americans in Iraq.

    Abe lincoln was secretly FOR slavery!?! And forget the fact that only 7 soldiers died in the month of july, since we won in Iraq.

    Actually there are several people deriding the whole idea that you can even Plagarize Wikki.

  • Octavian

    In response to Kyle and his fellow apologists for tyranny, I am not Georgian but your typical Joe Six Pack from Michigan who has studied the Russian language, Russian culture, and Russian politics and history. However, I wish I was Georgian, and in solidarity with all free peoples in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine, today, I am a Georgian!

  • streetwise

    to the Senator from Arizona. He has now bravely walked through the portal to meet them.

    Is there no end to this man’s demonic cleverness?

  • Alberta

    Hate to brake it to buddy, but the best thing that could happen to the world would be getting rid of the criminal gangster regimes in Russia and China.

    I mean, did you even read Octos comment? Dont recall him advocating war with Russia. He just said he would support Big Mac because Big Mac has a long and established history of distrust of Russia. Did you know that? Did you know that Johnny Mac probably holds a position closer to Octos then yours?

    I mean, do you disagree with Octos assesment? Putin is an imperialist. Putin had his foreign minister threaten Ukraine and Poland the other day. If you want the world to see no evil hear no evil thats fine. People who value freedom will disagree.

  • Rod_Patrick
  • Rod_Patrick

    Or it’s just me.

  • Mord

    I was just pointing out what some people were saying in the comments of the linked article. I thought they were funny.

  • theguy111

    you cant fault mccain for recounting georgian history accurately. he has the experience and knowledge of how to handle all of these conflicts. when is comes to foreign policy he has the EXPERIENCE to get us through these changing times

  • Rod_Patrick

    I read some of your comments and they were okey. That’s why I was confused on this one. Now I get it. Sorry.

  • Rod_Patrick

    That’s why I was confused on this one. Now I get it.

  • JKH1232

    And then hit B-Quote. It ought to work.

  • Mord

    I figured someone might make that mistake, heh, but I wasn’t sure how to fix it.

  • Mord

    I tried to mess with it before, but I couldn’t figure it out.

    testing it out.